Furazolidone has a broad antimicrobial spectrum which covers the majority of gastrointestinal tract pathogens, including E. coli, Staphylococci, Yersinia, Campylobacter, Vibrio, Proteus, Klebsiella, Aeromonas, Plesiomonas, Salmonella, Shigella, Giardia lamblia, and Entamoeba histolytica. Information concerning the antimicrobial activity of furazolidone is provided in the following exemplary references: Rogers, G. S., G. B. Belloff, M. F. Paul, J. A. Yurchenco & G. Gever, "Furazolidone, a New Antimicrobial Nitrofuran", Antibiotics and Chemotherapy, Vol. VI, No. 3 (March, 1956), pp. 231-242; Carlson, J. R., S. A. Thornton, H. L. DuPont, A. H. West & J. J. Mathewson, "Comparative In Vitro Activities of Ten Antimicrobial Agents Against Bacterial Enteropathogens", Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, Vol. 24, No. 4 (October, 1983), pp. 509-513; Benazet, F., L. LaCroix, C. Godard, L. Guillaume & J.-P. Leroy, "Laboratory Studies of the Chemotherapeutic Activity and Toxicity of Some Nitroheterocycles", Scandanavian Journal of Infective Diseases, Vol. 2, No. 2 (1970), pp. 139-143; Sargeaunt, P. G. & W. H. R. Lumsden, "In Vitro Sensitivity of Entamoeba histolytica to Furazolidone and Idochlorhydroxyquin, Separate and Combined", Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, Vol. 70, No. 1 (1976), pp. 54-56; Vanhoof, R., H. Goossens, H. Coignau, G. Stas & J. P. Butzler, "Susceptibility Pattern of Campylobacter jejuni from Human and Animal Origins to Different Antimicrobial Agents", Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, Vol. 21, No. 6 (June, 1982), pp. 990-992; Lang, W.-L. L. L., B. Reller & M. J. Blaser, "Comparison of Antimicrobial Susceptibility Patterns of Campylobacter jejuni and Campylobacter coli", Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, Vol. 26, No. 3 (September, 1984), pp. 351-353; Gross, R. J., L. R. Ward, E. J. Threlfall, H. King & B. Rowe, "Drug Resistance Among Infantile Enteropathogenic Escherichia coli Strains Isolated in the United Kingdom", British Medical Journal, Vol. 285, No. 6340 (Aug. 14, 1982), pp. 472-473; Gross, R. J., E. J. Threlfall, L. R. Ward & B. Rowe, "Drug Resistance in Shigella dysenteriae, S. flexneri and S. boydii in England and Wales: Increasing Incidents of Resistance to Trimethoprim", British Medical Journal, Vol. 288, No. 6419 (Mar. 10, 1984), pp. 784-786; Penhotra, B. R. & B. Desai, "Resistant Shigella dysenteriae", Lancet, Vol. 2, No. 8364 (December 17, 1983), p. 1420; Saxena, S. N., M. L. Mago, S. Ahuja & H. Singh, "In Vitro Sensitivity of Salmonella Strains Isolated in 1978 to Ampicillin, Chloramphenicol and Furazolidone", The Indian Journal of Medical Science, Vol. 35, No. 7 (July, 1981), pp. 147-152; Agrawal, R., O. P. Ghai, Shriniwas, C. G. Domah & V. K. Paui, "Enterotoxigenic Klebsiella Associated Diarrhea in Children", Indian Pediatrics, Vol. XVII, No. 9 (September, 1980), pp. 733-737; Agarwal, S. K., V. K. Srivastava, G. C. Upadhyay, G. K. Malik & L. Tewari, .-+.Shigellosis in Infants and Children", Indian Pediatrics, Vol. 18, No. 5 (May, 1981), pp. 305-310; and Purohit, R. P., K. R. Joshi, M. C. Vyas & K. Banerjee, "Bacteriological Study of Acute Diarrhoeal Disorders in Adults in Jodhpur", Rajasthan Medical Journal, Vol. XVIII, No. 4 (October, 1979), pp. 237-246.
Because it is poorly absorbed from the intestinal tract, furazolidone has been shown to be effective in the treatment of several enteric diseases such as giardiasis, cholera, shigellosis, traveler's diarrhea, salmonellosis, and typhoid fever. Furazolidone is effective in the treatment of diarrhea and enteritis caused by organisms primarily affecting the small intestine: for example, Giardia lamblia, Salmonella typhi, enterotoxigenic E. coli and Vibrio cholerae. Publications which report the use of furazolidone in the treatment of these various disorders include the following: DuPont, H. L., C. D. Ericsson, E. Galindo, L. V. Wood, D. Morgan, J. A. M. Bitsura and J. G. Mendiola, "Furazolidone Versus Ampicillin in the Treatment of Traveler's Diarrhea", Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, Vol. 26, No. 2 (August, 1984), pp. 160-163; Turner, A. C., "Traveler's Diarrhoea: Prevention by Chemoprophylaxis", Scandanavian Journal of Gastroenterology, Vol. 84, Supplement (1983), pp. 107-110; Lexomboon, U., "Antimicrobial Therapy in Diarrhoeal Diseases in Children", Southeast Asian Journal of Tropical Medicine and Public Health, Vol. 13, No. 3 (September, 1982), pp. 418-423; Gupta, S., S. Saxena & G. Srivastava, "Comparative Clinical Trial of Anti-Diarrhoeal Drugs", Indian Pediatrics, Vol. XIV, No. 8 (1977), pp. 639-644; Jain, A. M. & J. B. Mehta, "Sulphonamides, Furazolidone and Neomycin in the Treatment of Infectious Diarrhoea of Infancy and Early Childhood", Indian Pediatrics, Vol. 6, No. 10 (October, 1969), pp. 680-685; Palasuntheram, C. & D. S. Wijesekera, "Campylobacter Enteritis in Sri Lanka", Ceylon Medical Journal, Vol. 27, No. 2 (June, 1982), pp. 80-84; Murphy, T. V. & J. D. Nelson, "Five v. Ten Days' Therapy with Furazolidone for Giardiasis", The American Journal of Diseases of Children, Vol. 137, No. 3 (March, 1983), pp. 267-270; Craft, J. C., T. Murphy & J. D. Nelson, "Furazolidone and Quinacrin--Comparative Study of Therapy for Giardiasis in Children", The American Journal of Diseases of Children, Vol. 135, No. 2 (February, 1981), pp. 164-166; Presad, R., P. P. Mathur & G. Majumdar, "Comparative Clinical Trial of Furazolidone Suspension Against Metronidazole Syrup in Giardiasis", Archives of Child Health, Vol. 22, No. 5 (1980), pp. 108-112; Nair, K. V., M. P. Sharma, S. Methal & B. N. Tandon, "Successes of Metronidazole and Furazolidone in the Treatment of Giardiasis", The Journal of the Indian Medical Association, Vol. 72, No. 7 (Apr. 1, 1979), pp. 162-165; Shukla, M. L., S. V. Silanki, U. R. Kothari & J. J. Oza, "Comparative Study of 75 Cases of Enteric Fever Treated with Chloramphenicol, Furazolidone & Combination of Chloramphenicol & Furazolidone", Indian Medical Gazette, Vol. 115, No. 8 (August, 1981), pp. 262-266; Kamat, S. A., "Management of Enteric Fever in Children", The Indian Journal of Pediatrics, Vol. 48 (March-April, 1981). pp. 203-209; Gupta, S. P., T. D. Chugh & P. Kapoor, "A Double Blind Study of Chloramphenicol, Furazolidone and Combination Regimens in Enteric Fevers", The Journal of the Association of Physicians in India, Vol. 26, No. 7 (July, 1978), pp. 573-576; Punjani, M. K. & J. S. Anand, "A Comparative Study of Chloramphenicol and Furazolidone in the Treatment of Typhoid Fever in Children", Indian Pediatrics, Vol. XV, No. 9 (September, 1978), pp. 769-776; Misra, N. P., S. C. Jain & R. S. Chachra, "Furazolidone in Typhoid Fever", Current Medical Practice, Vol. 16, No. 8 (August, 1972), pp. 345-349; Damany, S. J. & C. Bilgi, "A Comparative Trial of Furazolidone and Chloramphenicol in Typhoid Fever", The Journal of the Indian Medical Association, Vol. 55, No. 4 (Aug. 16, 1970), pp. 131-133; Karchmer, A. W., G. T. Curlin, M. I. Huq & N. Hirschhorn, "Furazolidone in Paediatric Cholera", Bulletin of World Health Organization, Vol. 43, No. 3 (1970), pp. 373-378; and Pierce, N. F., J. G. Banwell, R. C. Mitra, G. J. Caranasos, R. I. Keimowitz, J. Thomas & A. Mordal, "Controlled Comparison in Tetracycline and Furazolidone in Cholera", British Medical Journal, Vol. 3, (Aug. 3, 1968), pp. 277-280.
The effectiveness of furazolidone in the treatment of diseases affecting the colon and rectum, for example shigellosis and amoebiasis, is inconsistent. The results of studies involving the treatment of such diseases with furazolidone are provided in the following publications; Fish, C. H. & G. Jones, "Furazolidone in the Treatment of Institutional Shigellosis", American Journal of Mental Deficiency, Vol. 73, No. 2 (September, 1968), pp. 214-217; Haltalin, K. C. & J. D. Nelson, "Failure of Furazolidone Therapy in Shigellosis", The American Journal of Diseases of Children, Vol. 123, No. 1 (January, 1972), pp. 40-44; Huanambal, M. A., H. Espejo & W. Flores, "Furazolidone Treatment of Infectious Diarrheas Due to Sigella and Salmonella. Clinical and Bacteriological Evaluation", Tribuna Medical (Mexico), No. 2 (December, 1980), pp. 25-30; Synge, H. N., and R. Sharma, "Clinical Trial of `Furoxone` in Treatment of Intestinal Amoebiasis", Current Medical Practice, Vol. 11, No. 4 (April, 1967), pp. 221-223; Rao, M. H., "Observations on the Value of Furoxone in the Treatment of Amoebiasis", Bombay Hospital Journal, Vol. 10 (October, 1968), pp. 1-4; Niazi, S. P. & F. Jabeen, "Clinical Trial on Combination of Furazolidone and Iodochlorhydroxyquinoline (Dependal) in the Treatment of Intestinal Amoebiasis", Journal of the Pakistan Medical Association, Vol. 24 (April, 1974), pp. 79-83; Bhattacharjee, B. & A. K. Mukherjee, "A Clinical Trial with Furazolidone and Iodochlorhydroxyquinoline in Intestinal Amoebiasis", Calcutta Medical Journal, Vol. 69, No. 4 (1972), pp. 83-84; and Sethi, J. P. & A. Gupta, "`Dependal`--An Evaluation of Its Efficacy in the Treatment of Acute and Chronic Intestinal Amoebiasis". Antiseptic, Vol. 73, No. 10 (October, 1976), pp. 545-548.
Furazolidone commonly is administered orally either in liquid suspension or solid dosage form. Common solid dosage forms include capsules and tablets formulated to provide rapid release of the furazolidone in the intestinal tract. A sustained release dosage unit form of furazolidone in the intestinal tract. A sustained release dosage unit form of furazolidone and tylosin for the tratment of pneumoenteritis in calves is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,790,669 issued to Gale on Feb. 5, 1974. Tablets of furazolidone which may contain certain ingredients and may be film coated which are used for treatment of diseases in which various species of free-living amoeba are the aetiological agent of the disease are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,402,965 issued to Wyburn-Mason on Sept. 6, 1983.